Thousands descend on Tamale park to support NDC

Thousands descended on the Tamale Jubilee Park last Saturday to show their support for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential Candidate, President John Dramani Mahama, as his campaign for Wednesday's elections strode into the final sprint from his native Northern Region.

He is expected to continue the last stretch of his campaign with visits to the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions today, and crown it all with a national rally in Accra later in the day before the deadline for the cessation of campaigning strikes at midnight today.

 An enormous rally by all standards, when the President stepped up to the rostrum around 8 p.m. and saw the milling crowd at the vast Jubilee Park, he remarked, "This is the biggest rally I have seen."

He added, "And there was no bussing anywhere. Everybody who came here, came here on their own. Everybody knows Tamale never fails. Thank you for the support."

Driving from Savelugu, the President's motorcade was met on the outskirts of the Northern Regional capital by hordes of motor riders, and the convoy had to move slowly to the rally grounds.

A healthy round of cheers greeted one of President Mahama's most politically charged speeches and he told the avid supporters, "Your support is what encourages me and keeps me going."

World economic crisis

Switching into global economics vis-à-vis the Ghanaian economy, President Mahama said the world was going through economic crisis and even developed countries were going through challenges. In nearby Nigeria, he said, the economy was in recession.

"Even in this world crisis, with sound economic management, Ghana's economy continues to grow," he posited.

On that point, he launched a tirade at people he called "some economists" whose "voodoo economics" had been poisoning the political environment.

"I don't know what statistics some economists are looking at. I don't know the voodoo statistics and voodoo economics they are looking at," the President charged out as the milling crowd urged him on.

The bare facts, he argued out, was that all the official figures pointed to an economy that was growing.

"If you look at the official figures,  this economy is growing. The deficit is coming down and the currency has stabilised,  inflation is coming down, interest rates are voting down,"  a confident Mahama said.

Challenges

President Mahama said on assumption of office, he faced three challenges but he did not blame anyone for their occurrence. The challenges were the power crisis, the economy, and dwindling social and economic infrastructure.

He stated that even though one year of his mandate was lost as a result of the presidential election petition initiated by the NPP, the challenges had been solved.

"We have worked hard to put the economy back on the path of growth," he said, and added that the power crisis had been fixed and today, Ghana had more power than what was being consumed.

On infrastructure, the President said massive works had been done in various sectors.